1. First, students handed in their homework, in which they responded in a journal to another’s memoir. If not turned in, they will need to make up the work and then come in for 30 minutes during lunch or after school.

2. Students continued reading example student memoirs in class. They chose the memoir to read and then wrote a one-page reflection on what they read. Honors will read two and Standard will read one. However, students can get extra credit by reading extra memoirs and doing journal responses.

2. We then learned some word roots and talked about the definition of ambivalent (1st period) or ambiguous (6th and 7th). We also identified parts of speech. Here’s a cheat sheet for that: Identifying Parts of Speech Cheat Sheet.

3. Student then chose a memoir written by a student to read. We began reading these in class and will continue tomorrow.

We continued our discussion of a writer’s purpose today through examining some self-portraits.

1. Students either arranged their binders (6th and 7th periods) into five sections or wrote on this topic (1st):

-What was your summer reading about?

-Why do you think your author decided to write the memoir?

2. We turned in our Media Release Forms. If you didn’t, get it signed and turn it in!

3. Students drew a visual explanation of WHY the author of their summer reading wrote that memoir — in other words, what was the author’s PURPOSE? We drew these on dry-erase boards and shared with the class.

We wrote down what we noticed and answered the following questions about them:

– How do you know this is a self-portrait?

– What is one theme word or topic you would say this self-portrait addresses?

– What is one feeling you get when you look at it or one feeling the artist may have had creating it?

– What is the PURPOSE the artist had for making the self-portrait (think to persuade/inform/entertain)?

5. We then shifted our thoughts to why we might write our own memoirs. Do we want to entertain? Persuade? Or inform? Students filled out a 3-2-1 to get out some initial ideas on their own memoir project (321 Memoir Planning).